


A Kind of Love Language

by shockandlock



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cute Kids, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:15:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29422905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shockandlock/pseuds/shockandlock
Summary: Ace spends a nice afternoon with the kids with Valentine's Day fast approaching. What's more fitting for the day than a card?
Relationships: Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Portgas D. Ace
Comments: 1
Kudos: 28





	A Kind of Love Language

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TwoBladeBae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwoBladeBae/gifts).



> TwoBladeBae motivated me to write about our ocs more, so I tried writing a little bit of Valentine's Day fluff (when I'm supposed to be doing other things but oh well lmao). I need to get around to listing these in a series. dlfkjsdf I'm just gonna start gifting these whenever I write about this au.
> 
> Enjoy!

When they decided to have another kid, the two of them agreed that it would be Marco’s turn to stay home and take care of the kids until baby Ed was a bit older. Ace had to help run the flower shop, though he wouldn’t mind tending to the flowers with a baby strapped to his chest. Rouge did it when he was a baby, and she had the photos to prove it. He took a mental note to have Rouge take pictures of him gardening with the kids the next time they were at the shop.

Marco was supposed to run errands today, so it was Ace’s turn to look after the kids. Rouge had thankfully given him the day off, insisting that Scarlett, Thatch’s mother, would help out in his place.

“Any last things you want me to add to the grocery list?” Marco asked. 

Annie held her hands high above her head. “Candy!” she yelled happily. 

Marco smiled. “Maybe a little treat. Chocolate?”

“Choco choco!” Annie giggled, smiling wide with a toothy grin. Even if she was adopted, they both agreed that she pretty much inherited Ace’s winning smile.

“Maybe Papa can grab some chocolate chips too so we can make cookies later too,” Ace suggested as he stepped into the room. 

“Cookie!” 

“Someone’s excited.” Marco stood up, stepping closer to Ace to give him a kiss on the forehead. “Why are you wearing the baby harness? I thought you all were going to stay home today?”

Ace looked down at Ed, taking one of his tiny hands between his fingers. “I think he likes being carried like this. Don’t you, buddy?”

Annie scrambled over. She tugged on Ace’s shorts. “Daddy can give me piggyback too!” 

“Of course I can, Annie dear!” Ace knelt down for her.

“Piggyback! Piggyback!” she cheered as Ace lifted her up with ease with a grin.

“You always love to show off, don’t you?” Marco said, but he couldn’t hide the amusement on his face as he smiled back. There in front of him was his beautiful family. “Alright. Call if you need anything.”

“Say hi to Pops for us!”

“Pop-pop!” Annie added cheerfully, Ed babbling along.

“I will, yoi!”

Ace preferred family moments that they spent together, especially when it was the whole family all together. These little moments were special though. These were his children and he wanted to give them happy memories in their everyday lives.

“You want to put on a movie, Annie?” Ace asked.

“Uh-huh!” Ace couldn’t see her, but he could practically feel the way she nodded from how her entire body bounced in his hold. 

“Let me set things up then!” If his calculations were correct, then the movie would finish right at the perfect time for Ed’s nap. He was a baby, but he was very particular about what time he napped. 

When he set Annie down, he was expecting her to hop right over to the couch, but instead, she rushed off to her room.

“Where are you going?” he called after her.

“Crayons!” Sure enough, as Ace was setting up, she returned to the living room with crayons and pink construction paper. Arts and crafts had always been one of her favorite things to do at preschool besides playing outside. 

Ace was barely watching the movie. He enjoyed watching with the kids, but right now, it was more about spending time together than about actually watching. Moana was one of Annie’s favorites, but she wasn’t paying much attention either, busy drawing on the paper.

Carefully holding Ed in his lap, Ace slid down off the couch to sit on the floor in front of the coffee table. “Whatcha making?”

“I’m makin’ a card. It’s almost balentine’s day!” she chirped happily as she continued to fill in a little heart she drew. Ace didn’t have the heart to correct her pronunciation. She was just so damn cute.

He nodded, smiling a little wider when Ed grabbed one of the crayons on the table with his tiny hand. “Don’t we have those little ones we bought at the store?” he asked. He remembered Annie telling them about a card exchange they were having at the preschool. “So you don’t have to make them, do you?”

Annie looked up from her in-progress card, lip jutting outward in a pout. “But I need to make one for my best friends!”

Ah. So that was it. He should have known that she would want to go the extra mile to make things special. “So one for Briar then.” They were practically like sisters, and being in the same preschool group only made them closer.

“Mm-hm!” Annie nodded, her ponytail bouncing against her back. “But this one’s for Stella.”

“Oh?” Ace leaned in closer. “I didn’t know you were that close.” On second thought, Annie talked about her before when she would tell him and Marco about her day. 

“We play with her all the time! She has really pretty hair and eyes and she has really nice clothes!”

“So she’s pretty, you say?”

Annie beamed. “The prettiest!”

Ah, young love. He wondered if he and Marco were like that when they were younger. Pops and Rouge would probably vouch for that. He shuddered to think of the no doubt numerous pictures and home videos they had between the two of them.  _ “You know, at Rayleigh’s wedding, you told me you wanted to marry Marco? Oh, it was the cutest thing!”  _ Rouge had told him when the two of them eloped. She later recounted this story to everyone at their actual wedding party (that everyone insisted on).

“You should make a card for Papa!” Annie suggested, holding an electric blue crayon out towards him. “Papa really likes this color!”

Usually, Ace’s romantic gesture on Valentine's Day was cooking a big dinner and bringing home a beautiful bouquet from his family’s flower shop. Then again… “I guess a handmade card wouldn’t hurt!”

He reached over to the stack of construction paper, leafing through to find orange. A card in both their favorite colors would be perfect. He grabbed another sheet for little Ed to scribble on as he worked.

“You gotta add lots of hearts.”

“Of course.”

“And glitter. Papa loves shiny things.”

Ace didn’t draw or make paper crafts, but he was determined to make the best damn card for Marco. The two of them were happy together and raising their kids right, but today he was taking a page out of his daughter’s book: creating for others as a language of love. And on February 14th when Marco opened that card and laughed at the doodles and glitter, Ace knew that it was worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> The reason this is short because I literally wrote half of this like in the past hour lmao. I hope y'all are enjoying some of this cute domestic stuff! I really enjoy writing it. Please let me know what you thought in a comment! Leave some kudos too! It would be very much appreciated!
> 
> Please consider following me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/shockandlock) or checking out my [carrd](https://shockandlock.carrd.co/) if you'd like to see fun little writing updates or support me!


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